This book provides in a single volume, all of the nutritional information that is likely to be required by anyone working in the fields of diet and health, food, and nutrition. It consists principally of tables of data, suitably annotated, with notes on the interpretation of the data presented. The information presented here has never previously been available in a single reference work, but has been scattered in a wide variety of sources, including the literature on nutrition, food science and technology, labelling legislation, biochemistry, physiology, clinical medicine and paediatrics.

In each section the information is arranged in order of increasing detail or complexity, so that it is easy to find a simple answer to a question, and reading further reveals more detailed information. All terms are clearly defined and the non-specialist reader has been considered throughout. The book includes a comprehensive index and has been extensively cross-referenced. A full bibliography refers the reader to original research literature.
The information is arranged in the following sections:
*body composition and anthropometry
*growth and development
*energy nutrition and physiology
*overweight and obesity
*protein-energy malnutrition
*macronutrients
*carbohydrates (including non-starch polysaccharides), fats, proteins-including overviews of metabolic pathways
micronutrients: vitamins and minerals-including metabolic functions, requirements, reference intakes, deficiency diseases etc
*food additives and contaminants
*food composition and labelling legislation
*glossary